Hexamethylene bisacetamide is a small polar compound, and has effectual inducibility on the differentiation of many types of tumor cells, such as Friend erythroleukemic, neuroblastoma and gastric cancer cells. As one of a few differential inducers, this compound has been used in clinical practice. With advances in various aspects of studies related to tumor differentiation induction, many new drugs have been discovered. In particular, there are indeed some advances in studies of the differentiation of tumor cells, by using hexamethylene bisacetamide as inducer, which will be discussed in detail.